1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a serial bus type configuration recognition and alarm apparatus, and more particularly to a serial bus type configuration recognition and alarm apparatus having a recognizing function of a communication system configuration and a alarm function, which is capable of recognizing the configuration of the system, collecting the failure status information of the recognized configuration, and self-diagnosing the failure of a recognition unit for ascertaining the configuration of the system, independently of the other functions of the communication system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a switch includes boards having a plurality of independent processors, and is physically connected to end user terminals through User Network Interfaces (UNIs). Communication channels are formed using Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) and switch links are connected between the boards, so messages are transmitted through Inter-Processor Communication (IPC). It is important to a communication system having a plurality of boards to detect whether each board have been positioned correctly and failure status of each board in the communication system. The check of the position of the boards is related to a configuration recognition function, and the check of the failure status of boards is related to an alarm function.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the construction of a conventional configuration recognition and alarm apparatus. As illustrated in FIG. 1, each of first transmission units 12 collects Printed circuit Board Assembly (PBA) IDentifications (IDs) or failure state information 14 transmitted from one or more PBAs 13 and reports them to a second transmission unit 11, and the second transmission unit 11 collects the PBA IDs or failure status information 14 reported by the first transmission unit 12 and PAB IDs or failure status information 14 and finally reports them to a terminal 10. Alternatively, there is provided a non-hierarchical type apparatus without the first transmission units 12. This type of apparatus is useful to systems in which the number of PBAs whose BOARD IDs or failure state information should be ascertained is small, while it is disadvantageous in a large-sized system on which various and multiple boards are mounted. That is, the non-hierarchical type apparatus is disadvantageous in that it is difficult to manage connection cables and the number of ports to be handled by a transmission unit is physically limited, so it is difficult to collect the PBA status information of a sufficient number of PBAS.
In the case of a hierarchical and bus type apparatus of the conventional configuration recognition and alarm apparatuses, the alteration and implementation of the apparatus is not easy because a parallel system bus is employed or ID information setting is fixed, and the maintenance and repair of the apparatus is difficult because the apparatus exists in PBAs in the form of additional circuits. Furthermore, most conventional bus type apparatuses cannot support hierarchical construction, so they are constructed in non-hierarchical forms, thus causing the extension of the apparatus to be difficult at the time of adding PBAs.
In addition, the conventional configuration recognition and alarm apparatus is disadvantageous in that the apparatus cannot perform the continuous collection of information at the time of an apparatus failure because the apparatus is not operated in a redundant manner, the apparatus has low flexibility because connection setting is adjusted to recognize the configuration of a changed system at the time of reconstructing a system, and the hardware and software implementation of the apparatus is not simple because the apparatus is linked with other functions to implement the recognition of configuration.